Pipe bending machine

A pipe bending machine, comprising a longitudinally extending machine frame having an upper side;

• a feeding carriage movable at an upper side of the machine frame and carrying means for clamping a pipe;
• a bending head provided on one end of said machine frame and rotatable about a vertical axis;
• a bending template mounted on said bending head and formed as multi-level template having a plurality of bending grooves provided with different bending diameters and arranged at different levels, said bending template having also a clamping surface;
• means cooperating with said bending template for bending a pipe therebetween, said cooperating means having a turning arm provided with a clamping jaw which has a clamping surface corresponding to said clamping surface of said bending template and provided with several clamping grooves arranged at different levels, said bending head and said feeding carriage with said clamping means being movable relative to one another in a vertical direction and transversely to a longitudinal direction of said machine frame for using one or another of said bending grooves, so that said bending template is liftable and lowerable in the vertical direction for exchanging said bending grooves and not movable transversely to the longitudinal direction of the machine frame, while said feeding carriage is movable transversely to the longitudinal direction of the machine frame and not liftable and lowerable in the vertical direction, said clamping jaw having a supporting lever, said bending template having an inclined sliding surface formed so that said supporting lever slides upwardly along said sliding surface during movement of said clamping jaw toward said bending template so that said sliding surface elevates said clamping jaw into a clamping position adjacent the bending grooves of said bending template.